Balay Mindaw DREAM Marawi Response Update as of July 6, 2017

Balay Mindaw DREAM Marawi Response Update as of July 6, 2017

As violence continues to escalate in Marawi, the number of those killed, wounded and displaced continues to rise.

I. BACKGROUND

On 23 May 2017, a fire fight incident transpired between the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) and members of the Maute Group and Bangsamoro Islamic Freedom Fighters (BIFF) who have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State of Iran and Syria (ISIS). The incident has affected all residents of Barangays Marawi Poblacion (Sarimanok Road), Basak Malutlut, Bangon, Tuca, Calocan East, Marinaut West, and Kilala of Marawi City. Residents of the city were not allowed to go out from their respective houses for security reasons. Exchange of gunfire in Barangays Tuca, Caloocan, and northern Marinaut has not stopped and roads leading to the city are being blocked both by government forces and Maute militants.

As of July 5, 2017:

84,856 families or 400,432 persons have been displaced by the armed conflict in Marawi, per accumulated data

78 Evacuation Centers (ECs) are currently open with 3,982 families or 18,335persons

Balay Mindanaw has been one of the many CSOs that immediately responded to the crisis situation by activating the Balay Mindanaw Group Operations Center, coordinating with other local partners and organizations, issuing a call for support to our local and international partners and even individuals, and providing available resources pre-positioned at the Balay Mindanaw DREAM Hub.

As soon as donations came in, we started providing relief assistance both to home-based IDPs and Evacuation Centers in identified barangays in Cagayan de Oro / Misamis Oriental and Iligan / Lanao del Sur.

Three major criteria were considered in the identification of beneficiaries / areas: (1) most in need; (2) underserved; and, (3) safe / secure.

III. RELIEF DISTRIBUTION

Providing potable water to affected families

Potable water is one of the identified leading needs to be addressed especially for those who are staying at the Evacuation Centers (ECs). Under the Operations of the National Incident Management Team (NIMT), Balay Mindanaw has lent 3 Skyhydrant Ultra-filtration units to help address this need. The Balay Mindanaw Team has been part of the water rationing group of the NIMT, providing potable water to ECs in Balo-I, Pantar and Pantao Ragat in Lanao del Norte.

As of July 5, Balay Mindanaw has already provided a total of 74,685 liters of potable water to 1,496 families / 6,192 individuals in 13 Evacuation Center in Balo-I, Pantar and Pantao-Ragat. The Balay Mindanaw Team, together with the BFP10, LGU volunteers and NIMT, will continue the water rationing under the NIMT in these ECs as the need / request for potable water also increased after Ramadan.

Food and Non-Food Items

Another leading identified need, particularly for home-based IDPs, is the provision of food and non-food items and dignity kits. This, because as observed, they are not easily reached compared to those that are staying at the Evacuation Centers.

Local CSO partners and Barangay / City Local Government Units helped in the prioritization / identification of barangays and information was validated through data gathered from the NDRRMC Emergency Operations Center (NEOC).

With the help of local volunteers, partner CSOs and barangay LGUs, we have already distributed food packs to 2,770 home-based IDPs in Pawak, Comonal, Salucod and Dilimbayan in Saguiran, Lanao del Sur (1000 families), barangays Tubod (670 families) and Santiago (485 families) in Iligan City and Barra, Opol (615 families) in Misamis Oriental.

We also facilitated the distribution of non-cash items donated by our partners and friends.

To date, we have already mobilized a total of 150 volunteers for our Marawi Emergency Response.

Currently, the Balay Mindanaw staff and volunteers are repacking another 1,100 food packs and 1,100 dignity kits for home-based IDPs in Saguiaran, Lanao del Sur and Cagayan de Oro.

Psychosocial Support

Addressing trauma and other psycho-social needs of the evacuees is another important concern that needs equal attention. To help address this need, the Balay Mindanaw PSS Team trained a total of 50 youth leaders, volunteers, educators and even IDPs to assist in conducting Psychosocial First Aid to selected barangays hosting home-based IDPs.

The PSS Training is dubbed as “May K ka ba kahit KKBKB?” which focused on the importance of culturally-sensitive psychosocial support, self-care and self awareness, non-violent communication and the Maranao culture, community-based coping and resilience, and facilitating different types of PSS activities.

The Balay Mindanaw PSS Team and Volunteer Facilitators have already conducted PSS activities doing games, singing and coloring activities to a total of 350 children with ages 3 to 5, 6 to 9 and 10 to 15 years old coming from barangays Pawak, Comonal, Salucod and Dilimbayan in Saguiran, Lanao del Sur.

IV. NETWORKING

Coordination with established mechanisms like the NDRRMC Emergency Operations Center (NEOC), Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) and Local Government Units has been key to ensure complementation of resources and efficiency in our emergency response work.

Balay Mindanaw is currently part of the operations of the National Incident Management Team (NIMT), particularly in the provision of potable water to ECs. We are also active members of the WASH and MHPSS Clusters, at the same time also part of the Saving Lives Movement (SLM) for advocacy issues related to the crisis.

V. DONATIONS

As of July 1, 2017, we have received a total of P1,085,040.35 cash donations from friends and partners, both local and international. These donations were used for the purchase, materials and transportation of relief items distributed, networking and mobility cost for Balay Mindanaw staff and volunteers.

Non-cash donations approximately amounting to P792,000.00 were also received by our Operations Center.

VI. RECOMMENDATIONS

The following are still identified as gaps in addressing the needs of the IDPs, both at the Evacuation Centers and Home-based: